Normally each month I post photos from ten years earlier.
I noticed that it’s twenty years since my 1998 trip to Europe. This was the first trip I blogged in excruciating unnecessary detail – and I’m glad I did, as I’ve been rereading the posts, reliving the trip.
I’ve taken the opportunity to re-scan some of the better photos and update the blog posts, and here they are in a post of their own.
2/9/1998: arriving in London for the first time, I suddenly felt like I was from some hick town. The place was just so busy. This is outside Victoria Station.
3/9/1998: Exploring Chichester near my grandparents’ place
4/9/1998: Arundel Castle, which is probably not even in the top ten British castles… but frankly if you’ve never seen a castle before, is damn impressive.
6/9/1998: On a train from my grandparents’ place near Bognor Regis, heading towards London. The photo was taken using a timer and placing the camera on the window ledge opposite. Does that mean it was a selfie, before anybody called them selfies?
Later the same day, in York.
York. Another selfie. Camera on a bollard.
7/9/1998: Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh looking down at the railway station.
10/9/1998: Near Plockton, Scotland. Camera on a rock.
Plockton. It’s that kind of town.
Near Plockton. Yes, there is a railway somewhere in there.
The view of Plockton from across the water. Pretty scenic!
11/9/1998: Doctor Who was on its long (1989 to 2005) hiatus back then, but so it was very nice to find this Police Box in Earls Court, London.
12/9/1998: The most famous zebra crossing in the world at Abbey Road. Shame I glanced to my left just as my buddy Merlin took the photo… and wouldn’t know until weeks later thanks to it being a film camera.
15/9/1998: We got to Bruges on our trip in 2017, but I’d also made it there with friends back in 1998. From what I saw, it hasn’t changed much!
16/9/1998: Boarding a high speed train from Brussels to Amsterdam.
18/9/1998: Back in… where is this place again? Once again, the perils of film cameras meant that it would be weeks before noticing that a world famous landmark appeared to be coming out of the top of my head.
Finally, I’ve posted this before, but here are some video highlights from that trip.
Daniel’s 1998 Europe trip highlights from Daniel Bowen on Vimeo.
If you feel like wasting your time, you can read my twenty year old travel blog here.
4 replies on “Old photos from Europe 20 years ago”
Great memories. Very worthwhile showing the pics/video again.
Regarding “selfies”. The good thing about a camera on a tripod and using a timer is that the person in the photo is not photographed ultra-close up. Most of my friends are late middle-aged. Selfies are not flattering!
Hey Daniel, slightly unrelated, but what do you make of the announcement regarding free travel for Cranbourne/Pakenham passengers during the replacement busses period in December? I’ve read your article on whether replacement busses are free, but in my experience, replacement busses already seem de facto if not de jure free already. Is Andrews’ announcement slightly oxymoronic then?
@Leo, it’s unclear what the arrangement will be. Normally the buses are free, but most people pay for the train portion of their trip – which is the same fare they’d usually pay. Presumably they’ll have some system of getting the affected people a free (or automatically refunded) ride.
If you use google street view to approach the TARDIS outside Earls Court Station you can go inside it and wander around the control room
https://goo.gl/maps/gaPWbUp6X9z